ALAMEDA AND 4TH LIVE WORK/ MIXED USE, ARTS DISTRICT, LOS ANGELES, CA.

The corner of 4th and Almeida Streets in the arts district of downtown LA has the remarkable historic condition of being the location where oranges were first grown in California. This corner, now vacant is in the peculiar zoning condition where a new building can only be industrial, notwithstanding the change in the area over the last 20 years, which has seen this area, once nearly abandoned converted into the vibrant arts community it is today.  Zoning laws often have trouble keeping up and so, this property, and many others in the area are in a zoning purgatory waiting for zoning changes to be made that would allow new buildings to be constructed for other than manufacturing or industrial uses.  Our project on this corner follows a previous rehabilitation of the adjacent concrete warehouse into live work lofts. The vacant site has been designed a number of times in order to explore the development options for the property.